Thomson TradeWeb, the fixed income and derivatives trading and processing platform owned by Thomson Corporation, says its users executed $12.9 trillion of business in the first quarter. This is up a 42% – or $3.8 trillion – over the same period in 2005.
The company says transaction volumes grew in both the US and Europe, with especially strong growth in Euro and US Dollar interest rate swaps and the US corporate bonds. TradeWeb, which has long had a strong position in online dealer-to-client fixed-income trading, is pleased to be building a similar position in the derivatives markets.
“We have continued to strengthen our position with the launch of several new marketplaces. A good indication of the broad acceptance of TradeWeb is the size of the individual trades being executed across the global network,” says Thomson TradeWeb CEO Jim Toffey. “During this past quarter, close to 70% of TradeWeb’s global trade volume came from transactions of $100 million or greater in size.”
Highlights of the first quarter include:
– Interest Rate Swaps: Euro Interest Rate Swaps trading volumes rose by 109% compared to Q1 2005. Total Interest Rate Swaps trading increased by 230% in the same period, following the launch of the US$ swaps marketplace in September 2005.
– Corporates: A breakthrough quarter for TradeWeb’s corporate business. Customers have been consistently posting new business on the marketplace, driving an impressive 218% increase in trading versus 2005. Average trade size increased by over 25%, compared to the previous quarter.
– TBA-Mortgage-Backed Securities: Volume on TradeWeb’s largest market grew by 7% in the first quarter, compared to Q1 2005. TradeWeb now averages over $60bn in daily trading volume and is easily the largest electronic marketplace for TBA-MBS trading.
– UK Gilts: A strong quarter for UK Gilt trading, with volumes surging by 79%, helped spur the growth of TradeWeb’s European government bond marketplace.
– Commercial Paper: A record quarter in Europe and the U.S., with gains of 25% posted in both regions, compared to Q1 2005. Over $2 trillion was traded in Euro and US Commercial Paper in the first quarter 2006.
– Canada: Average daily volume for Canadian clients increased by 249% in the past six months, following a landmark agreement between TradeWeb and CanDeal, the leading dealer-to institutional client marketplace for Canadian securities. There are now nearly 100 U.S. and Canadian clients trading Canadian securities. Under the terms of the alliance, Canadian clients can now trade a wide range of TradeWeb’s U.S. and European markets, while U.S. clients have access to Canadian securities through CanDeal. Electronic trade processing over TradeWeb’s leading straight-through processing network also posted strong gains during this most recent quarter.
– TradeXpress: Allocation volume topped $6.5 trillion, up 118% over Q1 2005. Over 480,000 allocation tickets were processed, an increase of 25% over the previous year. Electronic links are now in place with 52 major buy-side customers, twice as many as a year ago.
TradeWeb has now handled nine million trades worth over $120 trillion since its inception in 1998. Its multi-dealer auction model links the trading desks of 36 fixed-income dealers with more than 2,200 buy-side institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. Over $200 billion in trading volume gets executed over TradeWeb each day.
Tradweb also offer electronic trade confirmations and allocations through its integrated TradeXpress network, and standing settlement instructions and OTC derivatives documentation via its AccountNet service.